In music, a note is a unit of fixed pitch that has been given a name, or the graphic representation of that pitch in a notation system, and often specifies a duration of time. In music, a scale is an ascending or descending series of notes or pitches. Scales are described in many types such as tonal, modal, diatonic, derived or synthetic, and by the number of tones included. In Western European music, the superset of all tones is the chromatic scale consists of an ascending or descending sequence of all defined pitches. In the chromatic scale there are twelve pitches, and in the English language, these pitches are traditionally assigned the following primary letter names: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Modifiers are given to the letter names to complete the remaining five pitches. The two main modifiers are sharps and flats, and which respectively raise or lower the pitch of a note by a semitone. These are used to create the additional five notes necessary to complete the chromatic scale. The sharp symbol is ♯ (similar to the pound symbol, #), the flat symbol is ♭ (similar to a lower-case b). Each letter name is assigned to a specific pitch regardless of the octave in which the pitch resides. Each pitch within an octave is identified with one letter identifier with a sharp or flat modifier as needed.
The ascending chromatic scale includes twelve pitches having the following letter names and modifiers starting at A: A, A♯, B, C, C♯, D, D♯, E, F, F♯, G, and G♯. The same twelve tones arranged in a descending chromatic scale have the following letter names and modifiers starting at A: A, A♭, G, G♭, F, E, E♭, D, D♭, C, B, and B♭. The following letter names are equivalents, and refer to the same pitch: B♭ and A♯, D♭ and C♯, E♭ and D♯, G♭ and F♯, and A♭ and G♯.
In music, a chord is a set of three or more different pitches that sound simultaneously. One way of classifying chords is according to the number of distinct pitch classes used in their construction, a pitch class being identified by a degree of the scale (that is, a certain musical note, such as A, B, C, D, etc.) without regard to which octave it occurs in. Chords using three pitch classes are called triads. Chords using four notes are known as tetrads. Those using five are called pentads, and those using six are hexads. They are sometimes called trichords, tetrachords, pentachords and hexachords. Many chords can be arranged as a series whose elements are separated by intervals that are all the same interval distance from each other. For example, a C major triad contains the notes C, E, and G, which has the distance of five semi-tones from C to E and then four semi-tones from E to G. The distance of five semi-tones is also known as a Major interval. The distance of four semi-tones is also known as a minor interval. All major cords are built with a minor interval placed on top of a Major interval.
As mentioned above, each pitch can be represented in a graphical notation system called a score or sheet music. Each pitch in this notation system is represented by a note symbol positioned on a staff according to the particular pitch. The note symbol is generic in representation and by itself it does not correspond to any one particular pitch. The note symbol location on the staff determines the pitch that it corresponds with. The note symbol also indicates the time duration a pitch is played, which is referred to as a note value. Note values are, typically, categorized as whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, etc.
Learning the vocabulary and building blocks of music, such as music scales, intervals, music chords, octaves, and musical pitches, among others can be a tedious and daunting task for a novice. Various games based on playing cards have been developed for the teaching the reading of the graphical notation of notes written in a score. These prior playing cards familiarize a student with how musical notes are positioned on a musical staff and acquaint the student with a note value or the length of time a note should be played.